Tuesday, March 27, 2012

"You Can Take All the Tea in Chiner"

The Gypsy Wolf, On the Border of Woodstock and Bearsville, NY
Oh to be there at 5:30 PM when they open for the Especial Fajitas Platter and a Corona. Listening to Van Morrison.
Photo by AMN

Legi Ergo Sum: Ongoing Thoughts About the Future of the Book

Here at DITHOB we've pondered the future of books -- we know folks will always read, it is simply a question of format. For example, we asked what will be the future of the book reading/book signing ? Will the physical tome remain as a collectible artifact, sort of like making an appearance on the NY Times website or blog, and also making it into the NY Times daily paper (since the two are not congruent)? Will their be some evolution of the author's electronic signature that will pulse, neon-like, in the corner of your e-reader? More here

SO it was with great interest that we read critic Dwight Garner's wry and interesting essay in last week's NYT Sunday Review about modern reading habits in the era of the electric book. Mr. Garner considers the future of the paperbook and causes this reader to wax nostalgic about the charms of the book: "You can’t read an e-book in the tub. You can’t fling one across the room, aiming, as Mark Twain liked to do, at a cat. And e-books will not furnish a room." He also mentions "The one bit of verse that charmed me, when read on the iPad, was Clive James’s brilliant and witty “The Book of My Enemy Has Been Remaindered.” This poem forces you to wonder: What will remainders look like in our digital future? Where’s the 99-cents bin going to be? " More here

At DITHOB, we say Legi Ergo Sum - I read, therefore I am...

-Anthony Matteo Napoli

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Nothin' But Boyds

The Japanese cherry has begun to bloom in front of the house, a gentle explosion in pink and white, and the early morning air today was filled with the calls of birds, birds, birds, in the Flatbush forest. Chirps. Twitters. Tweets (the organic kind). Peeps. Caws.  It's an early spring that continues, like early Lin-sania, but with it becoming clearer and clearer that winter is truly behind us despite the forecast blip of rain and slightly chillier weather for a couple of days ahead. Still, no wonder the Italian-American Earth wisdom and rule of thumb has it that one never plants the tomatoes until Mother's Day.

You can't fool Mother Nature.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Are You a "Dog" Person or a "Cat" Person?

Are there differences between "Dog People" and "Cat People"? Eric Barker of Barking Up the Wrong Tree assembles some research that suggests that in fact is the case:

"Forty-six percent of respondents described themselves as dog people, while 12 percent said they were cat people. Almost 28 percent said they were both and 15 percent said they were neither.

-Dog people were generally about 15 percent more extraverted, 13 percent more agreeable and 11 percent more conscientious than cat people.
-Cat people were generally about 12 percent more neurotic and 11 percent more open than dog people."

More at Barking Up the Wrong Tree

Tales from the Outer Circle: 'The Night The GOP Got Soul'

Non-commercial, marginalized blogger that I am, I wistfully admire the cool professional work done every day by professional journalists, particularly those who cover the New York City political scene. And, as they work hard, this fortunate group also enjoy the opportunity to play hard, as members of the Inner Circle, an organization of NYC reporters and journalists, that annually puts on a black tie event, the Inner Circle Dinner, at which they trenchantly satirize the City of New York powers that be, and are answered, in kind, in a theatrical performance by the Mayor and his (and no doubt some day, her) own inner government circle of advisors and minions. Although I have never attended, I am always fascinated to learn about this event. This year,  I was pleased to learn that veteran NYC political reporter Dominic Carter---who had, through a series of unfortunate personal and legal issues, experienced a fall from grace, but who apparently has now resolved/recovered/re-emerged, and is back on the NYC scene as a reporter for RNN-TV and newsblogs---will appear in this year's Inner Circle show, "Pre-Occupied", performing as former GOP Presidential candidate Herman Cain.

This reminded me that earlier this year, dreaming of the Inner Circle from my Outer Circle Perch,  I had written a little IC-style parody about the rise and fall of Herman Cain, based on  the classic tune by The Band, "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down."

Clearly, while my ditty no doubt pales in comparison to whatever Mr. Carter and his colleagues will perform, I felt I may as well lay my own Humble Effort out there on DITHOB for posterity. Remember, folks, it is a parody laced with satire that has stepped in doggerel, but here it goes:

THE NIGHT THE GOP GOT SOUL

(To the tune of "Night the Drove Ol Dixie Down" with apologies to Herman Cain, an admittedly ambitious and interesting GOP candidate, and, of course,  Jaime Robbie Robertson...)

Herman Cain is the name and I’m running for Pres-i-dent
Til Bimbo eruptions threatened/to scuttle my whole campaign
Just a year on the campaign trail, Palin’s out, and Perry’s short-term memory had just a-gone to hell, 
By New Year’s Day, Bachmann too had fell, it was a time, I remember oh so well…

(Chorus):
The Night The GOP got soul, and the bells were ringing,
[Scat singing] The Night The Grand Ol’ Party got soul, and the people were singin'. They went
Nine-a, Nine-a, Nine-a, Nine-a, Nine Nine-a, etc.

Back with my wife in Tennessee, when one day in ‘08 she called to me,
“Herman, quick, come see, there’s a Negro president on the Tee-vee!"
Now I don't mind the fast food game, and I don't care if bimbo’s try to smear my name.
The White House’s tried the rest, now it’s time to try the best,
I say, Time to send Barack home to Chi-town for a resssssst!

(Chorus):
The Night The GOP got soul, and the bells were ringing,
[Scat singing] The Night The Grand Ol’ Party got soul, and the people were singin'. They went
Nine-a, Nine-a, Nine-a, Nine-a, Nine Nine-a, etc.

Like Silent Cal before me, I will stump the land,
And tell of Solyndra and Obama-care, which my Tea Party crackers just can’t stand.
Sure, Obama’s Ivy League, proud and brave, but Godfather’s Pizza’s the flag I proudly wave,
(Big Finish:) Like the cheese below my feet that does oooze ,
I'm Herman Cain! and my candidacy's one offer you simply can’t refu-u-u--u-se!…

(Chorus and fade)

--Anthony Napoli

2012 Brooklyn Rising Stars

2012 Brooklyn Rising Stars Mentor of the Year Curtis Sliwa

The Home Reporter, the chain of community newspapers that is expanding its coverage in Brooklyn, held its First Annual 2012 Rising Stars Awards event at the wonderful Abigail Kirsch Steiner Studio 6 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The evening included community trade fair and extensive networking opportunities. The award acknowledges up-and-coming leaders in Brooklyn's business, political, education, community service, and arts communities. Star of Stars Awards went to Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio. Mentor of the Year went to the ever-opinionated founder of the Guardian Angels, and aspiring King of All Media, Curtis Sliwa.

Christina Moore, Miss Brooklyn 2011, received the Rookie of the Year award. Among the notable rising stars, City Councilmember Jumaane D. Williams; Justin Brannan, legislative and communications director for Citycouncilmember Vincent Gentile; Renee Altomonte, vice president and retail market manager, TD Bank; Rachel Amar, community relations manager, Waste Management; ; Warren Chan, president, Asian Community United Society; Christian Charvet, sales manager, Sovereign Motor Cars, Ltd-Mercedes-Benz; Ryan Condren, managing director- leasing, CPEX Real Estate; Julia Dawson and Carey Balogh, co-founders/owners, Frolic Playspace; Tina Roth Eisenberg; founder, Tattly; Michael Esposito, owner, Cebu Restaurant; Charles Fabbella, associate broker/partner, Ben Bay Realty Co. of Bay Ridge., LLC; Gabriela Falquez, licensed real estate broker, Rapid Realty NYC: Cynthia J. Felix, deputy network leader, CFN 612, New York City Department of Education; Father Michael Louis Gelfant, pastor, St. Finbar Roman Catholic Church; Aisha Browne Glover, vice president of external affairs, Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation; Pamela Golkin, board member, Francesco Loccisano Memorial Foundation/music teacher, The Child Legacy School; Dr. Jared Hoffman, owner, Keller Chiropractic of Williamsburg; Jamie Johnson, regional director of golf events and fundraising, American Golf Corporation; Mehmet Kilic, vice president, Turkish Cultural Center; Renata Landskind, attorney and partner, Connors & Sullivan Attorneys at Law; Joe LaSpina, vice president, Maple Family Centers; Erin Leigh, Manager of Inside Sales, NETS Basketball; Jonathan Levin, president, Cardinal Trade Group; Kevin Mahoney, assistant GM, Brooklyn Cyclones; Dr. Jennifer Kulp Makarov, reproductive endocrinologist, Genesis Fertility; Dr. George Malayil, retina specialist, ophthalmology, Preferred Health Partners; Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis; Robert Manse, designer and president, Robert Manse Designs; Kevin “Kato” McKessey, senior, vice chairperson of senior college affairs, CUNY Student Senate; David Meade, executive director, Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation; Daryl Meyers, development agent, Subway Development of Brooklyn; Eileen Mora, director, Fort Hamilton Child Development Center; Frank Morizio, Jr., financial advisor, MetLife; Jeanette Nigro, vice president, economic development, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, Phil Penta, Jr. co-owner, 3 Guys from Brooklyn; John Quaglione, deputy chief of staff and press secretary for State Senator Marty Golden; Amanda QuiƱones, AVP Branch Manager, Flushing Bank; Linda Sarsour, executive director, Arab American Association of NY; Arthur M. Shtaynberg, Esq., CEO, LicensePro, LLC;  and Daniel Woods, associate director transaction services, Grubb & Ellis Company.

Two local not-for-profit organizations -- the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation and the Francesco Loccisano Memorial Foundation -- were beneficiaries of a raffle held at the event.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Wednesday Morning: Ventura Highway



Fresh, optimistic, with a relaxing simplicity for an urban, 21st century, Wednesday morning.

Origins here

America official site here

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

SPRING 2012

An equinox occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the center of the Sun being in the same plane as the Earth's equator. The term equinox can also be used in a broader sense, meaning the date when such a passage happens. The name "equinox" is derived from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night), because around the equinox, the night and day have approximately equal length.


Although the word equinox is often understood to mean "equal [day and] night", this is not strictly true. For most locations on earth, there are two distinct identifiable days per year when the length of day and night are closest to being equal; those days are referred to as the "equiluxes" to distinguish them from the equinoxes. Equinoxes are points in time, but equiluxes are days. By convention, equiluxes are the days where sunrise and sunset are closest to being exactly 12 hours apart. More here


A Baby Running Barefoot

By DH Lawrence

When the bare feet of the baby beat across the grass
The little white feet nod like white flowers in the wind,
They poise and run like ripples lapping across the water;
And the sight of their white play among the grass
Is like a little robin’s song, winsome,
Or as two white butterflies settle in the cup of one flower.
For a moment, then away with a flutter of wings.

I long for the baby to wander hither to me
Like a wind-shadow wandering over the water,
So that she can stand on my knee
With her little bare feet in my hands,
Cool like syringa buds,
Firm and silken like pink young peony flowers.

And, just in time for spring, this photo below provided by the Kroeller Mueller Museum in Otterlo, Netherlands, Tuesday, March 20, 2012, shows a painting entitled "Still life with meadow flowers and roses" by Vincent van Gogh. The Kroeller Mueller Museum says new X-ray research has finally put beyond doubt that "Still life with meadow flowers and roses" really is by Van Gogh. It has also uncovered in greater detail an art school study by Van Gogh of two wrestlers concealed on the same canvas and invisible to the naked eye

Thursday, March 15, 2012

After the Event Horizon: Falling Through a Black Hole



The New Scientist offers a unique view into astrophysics, showing what an epic journey through a tunnel in space-time might look like, thanks to an animation by astrophysicist Andrew Hamilton from University of Colorado at Boulder.

From approaching the event horizon, falling through the black hole, to the white hole, to seeing the flash of the entire history of the universe (new and old), it envisions quite a trip.

The animation appears above. The full article appears here

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

CODA: Notes on Jovanotti at Music Hall of Williamsburg

Photo by Rami Moghadam  (c) 2012

Lorenzo Cherubini, better known as Italian singer-songwriter and rapper Jovanotti, performing Monday night at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Tonight at Bowery Ballroom, Manhattan.

Rami Moghadam sent these notes on the show:
 
- it was my first time at williamsburg music hall
-unlike opening act diego garcia, who declared his love for manhattan (over and over), jovanotti knew brooklyn is where it's currently at,kept firing on the crowd with shouts of "Brooklyn!"
- jovanotti was in a super stylish outfit, black hat red shirt white tie, with sparkling Michael Jackson-like shoes that lit up the crowd with every mid-air kick of his
- it was a very high-energy show, he danced almost non-stop with hardly a rest in between sets
- nice mix of a crowd, a good number of italians, both young and older
- italians responded with cheers to jovanotti's prompts (in italian), knew words, sang along, especially to old hits
- when they started playing the mid-90s hits, that's when the show really hit a higher gear
(even though it was pretty high already!)
- crowd went wild for biggest hits from that decade, such as L'Ombelico del Mondo,
Piove, and Serenata Rap. it seemed like everyone in the building, italian-speaker or not,
knew the words to the song Serenata Rap and sang at the top of their lungs
- he has a very eclectic mix of music influences, i only remember first album
from the mid nineties, nice to see his evolution as a musician.
- rapped in italian and english, sprinkled in some hip hop classics from the Beastie Boys and Sugar Hill Gang
- very fun, energetic show that brought back some nice memories and was a reminder that jovanotti is an important representative of not only Italian but World music
--Rami Moghadam

"Born in 1966, Jovanotti, made his debut at the age of twenty for Radio Deejay, under the aegis of Claudio Cecchetto. The renowned "Il Grande Boh!" was not in fact his debut as a writer as "Yo, brothers and sisters" had already launched him into the literary world. But his real passion was music, and this is where he has undergone his greatest personal and professional growth. His albums, without considering a number of singles associated with specific events (such as Cuore written to commemorate the tragic death of Giovanni Falcone), are the milestones of a complex musical journey that over the years has explored more and more genres and influences. Jovanotti has intensified his tours and collaborations and has performed with internationally renowned artists (Pino Daniele, Luca Carboni, Luciano Pavarotti)."
 
The artist's official site here

Saturday, March 10, 2012

The Armory Show: The Really Big Show

The Armory Show at the piers is indeed the really big show and this weekend, truly the only show in town. Art from around the world. Art modern-20th century and earlier. Art contemporary- 21st century through today.Piers 92 and 94. In it's fourteenth year. Galleries display modern classics and works of artists who are on the verge of a breakthrough. See you there. For more information and tickets visit http://www.thearmoryshow.com

Friday, March 9, 2012

Shiznit!: "Men In Black 3" Back This Spring


Will Smith, Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones as Agent K, temporally shifted. Shiznit, y'all!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

International Women's Day 2012: Connecting Girls, Inspiring Futures



 International Women's Day (IWD), originally called International Working Women’s Day, is marked on March 8 every year. In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political and social achievements. Started as a Socialist political event, the holiday blended in the culture of many countries, primarily Eastern Europe, Russia, and the former Soviet bloc. In many regions, the day lost its political flavor, and became simply an occasion for men to express their love for women in a way somewhat similar to a mixture of Mother's Day and St Valentine's Day. In other regions, for example, New York City, however, the original political and human rights theme designated by the United Nations runs strong, and political and social awareness of the struggles of women worldwide are brought out and examined in a hopeful manner.

Events for today include:

2012 Women's Herstory Induction Ceremony at Brooklyn Borough Hall
March 8, 8:30 AM - 10:30 AM
On Thursday, March 8, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and Deputy Borough President Sandra Chapman will host the 2012 Women's Herstory Induction Ceremony and Reception at Brooklyn Borough Hall. The event honors women in Brooklyn who have excelled in the arts, sciences, business and public service.


This year's honorees: •The Lucy Burns Activist Award (named for the Brooklynite who helped spearhead the suffrage movement) will go to Simmi Malhotra Degnemark, director of the Carroll Park Kids' Concert Series
•Juanita N. Holmes, inspector of the 81st Precinct of the NYPD, will receive the Shirley Chisholm Leadership Award, named for the Brooklynite who was the first black woman to win a seat in Congress and run for President of the United States
•The Emily Roebling Stewardship Award, named for the woman who served as one of the chief engineers for the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, will go to Ellen F. Salpeter, director of the Heart of Brooklyn
•Carol Cymbala, director of the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, is the recipient of the Betty Smith Arts Award, named for the author of the classic novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•The Lady Deborah Moody Founders Award, named for the woman who founded Gravesend and became the only woman to found a permanent settlement in early colonial America, will be awarded to Marjorie Moon, executive director of the Billie Holiday Theatre
•Antonia Clemente, co-founder and executive director of The Healing Center, will be awarded the Dr. Susan Smith McKinney Humanitarian Award, named for the first black woman to be licensed as a doctor in the state of New York.

Join Women on the Bridge!
Thursday, March 8, 2012 11:00am
Brooklyn Bridge, NYC
Make your voice count! Join us on the Brooklyn Bridge on the 101st Anniversary of International Woman’s Day as people come together on bridges around the globe as part of Women for Women International’s campaign to unite for peace and women’s equality worldwide.This special event is hosted by What BETTER Looks Like’s “100,000 VOICES” project to bring awareness to the sexual violence inflicted upon women, children and men in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 11:00 A.M. - MEET AT CADMAN PLAZA PARK, BROOKLYN MARCH ACROSS THE BRIDGE TO CITY HALL PARK, MANHATTAN. Guest speakers include Zainab Salbi, founder of Women for Women International. Music by the Manhattan Girls Chorus

BRING YOUR BANNERS IN SUPPORT OF PEACE!
TO REGISTER: http://joinmeonthebridge.org/events/brooklynbridge
More info: Liz Gannon-Graydon liz@whatbetterlookslike.com
516-528-9939


More on Women's Art here

More on International Women's Day here



NOW NYC (for which I proudly served as a political reporter back in the 1980s) here

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Monday, March 5, 2012

The "Great" Recession? Gimme a Break

As Occupy Wall Street appears to slip below the cultural horizon, is it a sign that Americans are more accepting of the "New Normal" ?

Poorer Americans as the "middle class" shrinks further here

Robert Reich on the forgotten American worker - the economy is expanding incrementally, but paychecks aren't. Link here

The President depends on High Tech Industry supporters, but is this causing him to overlook potential abuses of the H1-B foreign worker visa for the purpose of replacing American high tech workers with lower paid staff recruited from oversees? Link here

Beyond the free market: Alex Gourevitch and Aziz Rana in Salon write:"Despite the ambiguity of their goals, the Occupy protests have made one point abundantly clear: The mainstream Democratic alternative is paltry stuff. For the most part, Democrats disagree that tax cuts and deregulation are the solution, and instead argue that the state should be used to guarantee equal opportunity. For instance, cheap, publicly available education, job training and affirmative action are all justified on the grounds that each American should have the skills to compete and the labor market should treat everyone equally.


"Yet, the two parties differ only on means, not ends. While Republicans profess a more abiding faith in a self-regulating economy, Democrats believe carefully tailored state interventions are needed to ensure equal opportunity.

"The question becomes: Equal opportunity for what? For both parties, opportunity basically means a market-oriented ideal where individuals are given the chance to fight over a limited supply of high-status jobs. As it turns out, the end that each party agrees on is largely same: the equal opportunity to become unequal." Article here

Synthapop for a Late Winter Monday: A-ha's "Take On Me"



Pure 80s Synthapop for a late winter Monday morning, A-ha's classic "Take On Me" went through numerous iterations using a progressively more synthesizer-based sound, approaching liftoff on UK charts, but even then it didn't breakthrough to real commercial success until Warner Brothers produced a cutting edge music video that helped propel the tune to #1 in the US. Two videos were made for the song. The first release of "Take on Me" in 1984 includes a completely different recording, and was featured in the first video, which shows the band singing with a blue background.The second video was directed by Steve Barron, and filmed at Kim's CafĆ© and on a sound stage in London, in 1985.The video used a pencil-sketch animation / live-action combination called rotoscoping, in which the live-action footage is traced-over frame by frame to give the characters realistic movements. Approximately 3,000 frames were rotoscoped, which took 16 weeks to complete.


More on the production of the tune here

On the Norwegian pop band A-ha here

And on singer Morten Harket with his amazing vocal range here

Friday, March 2, 2012

Digerati: The Late Andrew Breitbart

Uber-effusive, fulmanating, Whig-like, and now, one for the Digital Ages. Andrew Breitbart, who provided start up support to the Drudge Report and Huffington Post, before creating his own media empire, died in Los Angeles yesterday, cause still under investigation although continuing serious health problems believed to be the cause. Having announced that he had something big for March 1, This of course has prompted further conspiracy theories, as well as even more far out reports that Breitbart was exploring development of a CNN talk show with former Congressman Anthony Weiner -- who Andrew had effectively played a large role in his removal from office.

The Atlantic offered one view here

The New Yorker here as well as the New Yorker 2010 profile by Rebecca Mead here

His larger than life persona -- becoming as Big in conservative circles, or at least on the Internet, as the instittutions and individuals he pilloried, suggest that the final chapter may yet to be revealed.

Current Reading

  • Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid that Sparked the Civil War- Tony Horwitz
  • A Sultan in Palermo - Tariq Ali
  • Hitch-22: A Memoir - Christopher Hitchens
  • Negropedia- Patrice Evans
  • Dead Funny: Humor in Nazi Germany - Rudolph Herzog
  • Exile on Main Street - Robert Greenfield
  • Among the Truthers - A Journey Among America's Growing Conspiracist Underworld - Jonathan Kay
  • Paradise Lost - John Milton
  • What Is Your Dangerous Idea? Thinking the Unthinkable - John Brockman
  • Notes from the Edge Times - Daniel Pinchbeck
  • Fringe-ology: How I Can't Explain Away the Unexplainable- Steve Volk
  • Un Juif pour l'exemple (translated as A Jew Must Die )- Jacques Cheesex
  • The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins
  • Pale King - David Foster Wallce
  • David Bowie: Starman bio - Paul Trynka
  • Tobacco Stained Mountain Goat - Andrez Bergen
  • The Future of Nostalgia -Svetlana Boym
  • Living in the End Times - Slavoj ZIzek
  • FIrst as Tragedy Next as Farce - Slavoj Zizek
  • How to Survive a Robot Uprising - Daniel Wilson
  • Where is My Jet Pack? -Daniel Wilson
  • Day of the Oprichniks - Vladimir Sorokin
  • Ice Trilogy - Vladimir Sorokin
  • First Civilizations
  • Oscar Wilde -Andre Maurois
  • The Beats - Harvey Pekar, et al
  • SDS - Harvey Pekar, et al
  • The Unfinished Animal - Theodore Roszak
  • Friends of Eddy Coyle
  • Brooklands -Emily Barton
  • Abraham Lincoln - Vampire Hunter - Seth Grahme-Smith - Entertaining and historical
  • Dictionary of the Khazars - Pavic
  • Sloth-Gilbert Hernandez
  • War and Peace- Leo Tolstoy
  • Charles Addams: An Evilution
  • Life in Ancient Greece
  • Time - Eva Hoffmann
  • Violence - S. Zizek
  • Luba - a graphic novel by Gilbert Hernandez
  • Life in Ancient Egypt
  • Great Apes - Will Self - riveting and disturbing
  • Lost Honor of Katherina Blum - Heinrich Boll - could not put it down
  • Yellow Back Radio Brokedown - Ishmael Reed (author deserving of new wide readership)
  • Living in Ancient Mesopotomia
  • Landscape in Concrete - Jakov Lind - surreal
  • 'There Once Lived A Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbor's Baby'-Ludmilla Petrushevskaya - creepy stories - translation feels literarily "thin"
  • Mythologies - William Butler Yeats (re-read again & again)
  • How German Is It ? - Walter Abish
  • The Book of Genesis - illustrated by R. Crumb - visionary
  • "Flags" - an illustrated encyclopedia - wish I could remember all of these. Flag culture
  • Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut
  • Ubik - Philip K. Dick
  • Nobody's Fool - Richard Russo
  • Hitler's Empire - Mark Mazower
  • Nazi Culture - various authors
  • Master Plan: Himmler 's Scholars and the Holocaust - Heather Pringle
  • Eichmann in Jerusalem - Hannah Arendt
  • Living in Ancient Rome
  • Traveling with Herodotus -R. Kapuszynsky
  • Oblivion - David Foster Wallace - Some of his greatest work
  • Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace - still wrestling with this great book
  • Netherland - Joseph O'Neill - staggeringly great read
  • Renegade - The Obama Campaign - Richard Wolffe
  • Mount Analogue - Rene Daumal
  • John Brown
  • Anathem - Neal Stephenson - love Stephenson but tough slogging first few chapters
  • 7 Deadly Sins
  • ALEX COX - Alex Cox
  • FIASCO by Thomas Ricks
  • I, Fellini - Charlotte Chandler & Federico Fellini
  • Best of 20th century alternative history fiction
  • Judah P. Benjamin - Eli Evans - Confederacy's Secretary of State & source of the W.C. Field's exclamation
  • Moscow 2042 - Vladimir Voinovich - Pre-1989 curiosity & entertaining sci fi read; love his portrayal of Solzhenitsyn-like character
  • Gomorrah - Roberto Saviano - Mafia without the It-Am sugar coating. Brutal & disturbing
  • The Sack of Rome - Celebrity+Media+Money=Silvio Berlusconi - Alexander Stille
  • Reporting - David Remnick - terrific journalism
  • Fassbinder
  • Indignation - Philip Roth
  • Rome
  • Let's Go Italy! 2008
  • Italian Phrases for Dummies
  • How to Pack
  • Violence - Slavoj Zizek
  • Dali: Painting & Film
  • The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight - Jimmy Breslin
  • The Good Rat - Jimmy Breslin
  • Spook Country - William Gibson
  • A Blue Hand - The Beats in India - Deborah Baker
  • The Metaphysical Club - Louis Menard
  • Coast of Utopia - Tom Stoppard
  • Physics of the Impossible - Dr. Michio Kaku
  • Managing the Unexpected - Weick & Sutcliffe
  • Wait Til The Midnight Hour - Writings on Black Power
  • Yellow Back Radio Brokedown - Ishmael Reed
  • Burning Down the Masters' House - Jayson Blair
  • Howl - Allen Ginsberg
  • Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut
  • The Palace Thief - Ethan Canin
  • John Adams - David McCullough
  • The Wooden Sea - Jonathan Carroll
  • American Gangster - Mark Jacobson
  • Return of the King - J.R.R. Tolkien
  • Gawker Guide to Becoming King of All Media
  • Jews and Power - Ruth Wisse
  • Youth Without Youth - Mircea Eliade
  • A Team of Rivals - Doris Goodwin
  • Ghost Hunters -William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death - Deborah Blum
  • Dream -Re-Imagining Progressive Politics in an Age of Fantasy - Stephen Duncombe
  • Love & Theft - Eric Lott
  • Exit Ghost - Philip Roth
  • Studio A - The Bob Dylan Reader

Current Listening

  • Alexi Murdoch Wait
  • Wilco Summer Teeth
  • Wilco The Album
  • Carmina Burana - Ray Manzarek (& Michael Riesmann)
  • Polyrock - Polyrock
  • 96 Tears - Garland Jeffries
  • Ghost of a Chance Garland Jeffries
  • Yellow Magic Orchestra
  • Mustang Sally Buddy Guy
  • John Lee Hooker
  • Black and White Years
  • Together Through Life - B. Dylan
  • 100 Days 100 Nites - Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings
  • DYLAN: 3 disc Greatest...
  • Glassworks - Philip Glass
  • Wild Palms - Soundtrack -Ryuichi Sakamoto
  • Dinah Washington - Best of..
  • Commander Cody& His Lost Planet Airmen Live at Armadillo